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Hawick's very poor start
to the season with no wins from four matches had claimed
to scalp of head coach Deeky Armstrong at the start of
the week. He left his post following last Saturday's
disastrous showing against Aberdeen Grammar. Hawick
started this match against Stirling County with
assistant coach Rocky Johnstone and Jim Renwick standing
in for a few weeks until Hawick can appoint a new head
coach. However, all the players also new that they had
to step up there performance as very basic mistakes have
been their downfall so far this campaign. Stirling have
also been struggling with only one win so far from four
outings.
Stirling came out the
blocks the faster and were six points up in as many
minutes through two penalties. A Lee Armstrong penalty
got Hawick off the mark after nineteen minutes but
Stirling were still the stronger side and were 13-6 up
when they crashed over for a try which was also
converted. The two sides traded another penalty apiece
and Stirling reached the interval with a lead of 16-6
but Hawick had squandered some good try scoring
opportunities.
As in past weeks Hawick
came out in the second period a much better team and
spent much time in their opponents half of the pitch.
Another Armstrong penalty reduced the deficit to 9-16.
Some good pressure from Hawick finally paid dividends,
good forward work brought play up to the Stirling line
with Rory Sutherland appearing with the ball from a maul
to crash over the line for a deserved try which Lee
Armstrong converted to tie the scores at 16-16 going
into the last five minutes. Hawick kept on up the
pressure but could not break down a resolute Stirling
defence. Stirling worked their way up the pitch and it
was now Hawick who had to defend their line. Hawick
conceded a penalty which Stirling slotted to again take
the lead at 19-16 with the match well into injury time.
From the kick off Hawick regained possession and
when Stirling were penalised in the final seconds of
play, Lee Armstrong stepped up and casually kicked the
three points to earn Hawick a hard fought two league
points and a final score of 19-19.
Again it was a game in
which Hawick failed to compete for the whole eighty
minutes but some good individual performances with
Kieran Willison showing up well in the forwards and
Graham Hogg making his presence felt with a welcome
return following injury. |
